And Dr. Oscar's Predicted Academy Award Nominees Are...
Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Eddie Marsan, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
The one wildcard that I have chosen to include here is Eddie Marsan, who plays the cranky driving instructor to the cheery Sally Hawkins in “Happy-Go-Lucky." Marsan has earned rave reviews and supporting actor honors from the National Society of Film Critics. He’s not very well known in the U.S. and that hurts him, but it’s the type of performance that should earn number one votes from those who have screened the film.
If Marsan doesn’t make it in, expect the fifth slot to go to Dev Patel as the hero in “Slumdog Millionaire.” Patel made the cut at SAG and many think he’ll make the Oscar list, too. I’m leaving him out because as effective as he is in the role, he doesn’t have the opportunity to demonstrate as much high-skilled acting as the other likely nominees in this category.
Of course, if support for “Slumdog” is strong enough, that could sweep Patel into the top five.
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Tariq Khan is a senior foreign editor with the Fox News Channel and a contributor to Foxnews.com. He has tracked the Academy Awards every year since 1977, covered the Oscars for several news organizations, and in his first piece for Foxnews.com last year, correctly predicted the Oscar winners in each of the major categories. (So we just had to bring him back.)
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